An MMO Fan Shot by Harry S.
Let me state that I have been a Mets fan for over 50 years. I remember going to my first game in 1964, and I still remember my teacher in elementary school allowing us to keep a radio on for the clinching game of the 1969 World Series (all WS games were day games back then).
I have followed this team through thick and thin (mostly thin) and have attended too many games to even count. Even during the last few lean years, I try to watch the games on TV as much as possible. Like most fans, I have suffered through the Sandy Alderson era of cutting payroll and watching a substandard team night after night. At this point, a lot of Mets fans are extremely enthusiastic about our chances for next year. Unfortunately, I am going to put a damper on this.
All along, we kept hearing that the Mets have “payroll flexibility”. All along, we were told, “Don’t worry, we will spend when we need to”. Year after year, I believed it less and less. Now, I know this is nonsense. The team finished 2014 strongly, ending up with 79 wins to tie for second. Yes, we were miles behind Washington, but Harvey is back, TDA should improve and Granderson and Wright will surely bounce back. Things looked bright. And then came the offseason. While teams like Chicago and Miami made substantial moves to improve their team, we have stood pat. Right now, our acquisitions include
- A 33 year old reliever with a career negative WAR who just came off surgery.
- A fifth outfielder who hit .212 last year (2014’s Chris Young?).
- Michael Cuddyer, who has decent stats but will be 36 on opening day and has averaged playing 93 games/year for the past three years.
Look at it this way: We finished 19 games behind Washington, so it’s pretty unrealistic that we will make up this difference. Miami finished only 2 games behind us last year, but has added Dee Gordon, Dan Haren, Mat Latos and Michael Morse. to a team stacked with three young stars in the outfield. Our lineup is, at best, average. Our overall team defense is also probably average. Lagares is a star, but Duda, Murphy, Flores and TDA are all probably below average defensively. But, people say, “Look at our pitching!”
OK, let’s look at it. Right now, I don’t believe our starting rotation from top to bottom is better than Miami’s. Harvey and deGrom are great, but even highly touted Zack Wheeler has not put up anything but average statistics in his 2 MLB seasons. Gee, Colon and Niese are all just average pitchers. Our bullpen is OK, not great. It’s still unclear who our closer will be.
Like every year, our bench is still relatively weak. In order to even get into the playoffs (which in our case, would probably start with a one game do or die scenario), we would have to win 88-90 games. I think while it’s certainly possible for us to improve that many games, it’s also unlikely.
The team just hasn’t improved very much since last year, and you have to realize Miami really has. I don’t even want to talk about Chicago. It’s very disconcerting to see other contenders finally making the moves to win while the Mets basically sit on their hands. Now, could the Mets actually open the purse strings around mid-year if we were close? Sure. However, based on our past history, I wouldn’t bet on it. As a lifelong Met fan, I am hoping for the best but mentally preparing for another disappointing offseason. I sincerely hope I’m wrong.
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This Fan Shot was contributed by MMO reader Harry S.. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over 25,000 Met fans who read this site daily. Send your Fan Shot to [email protected]. Or ask us about becoming a regular contributor.
